Oven-baked pancakes (aka Dutch Baby)

From Inge Curtis, of the Williamsburg B&B Primrose Cottage. This is rich and satisfying, and it doesn’t have to be terribly sweet.

Dutch baby or oven-baked pancake

1/2 C milk
1/2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 t baking soda
3 eggs
1 t sugar
dash salt
3 T butter
1/4 C sugar
1 t cinnamon
2 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
1/3 C currants or dried cherries
1/3 C chopped walnuts or almonds

1/4 C sugar mixed with 1 t cinnamon
2 T butter
whipped cream

In a small mixing bowl, mix the milk, flour, baking soda, eggs, 1 t sugar, and salt together until smooth; set aside. In a heated oven, melt butter in the bottom of a 9-inch skillet with an oven proof handle. Mix in 1/4 C sugar and cinnamon. Saute apples, currants, and walnuts in butter until soft, but not mushy. Pour batter over the apples.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, top with cinnamon-sugar mixture and dot with butter. Return the pan to the oven for 15 minutes. Serve immediately, topped with whipped cream.

Variation: Instead of apples, currants, and walnuts, use 2 pears, peeled, cored and sliced, plus 1 C frozen or fresh cranberries. Add 2 T of Grand Marnier before you finish sauteeing.

If you don’t have an oven-proof skillet, you can cook the fruit in a skillet and then transfer it to a pie plate, a baking dish, or 4 individual ramekins.